Startup Idea #107: Using games to improve financial literacy

I pointed out some time ago about this article from the Economist that highlights the need for people to be financially literate. I think this important, given the current crisis and financial education should start from young. The key challenge is to devise innovative ways to get kids interested.

One possible way to do this is through video games. This article from Wired pointed to an interesting direction: turning your piggy banks into arcade machines that help kids to save money.




















I think this is just scratching the surface of what can be done.

• What if we link these gadgets to a web service that allows the kids to track, compare, do mashup, share et al their results (like fitbit)?

• What if achieving some saving targets unlock new content on their piggy banks?

• What if they can have some form of virtual currency that ties in with their physical savings, and kids can learn to place these virtual currencies into virtual savings account to earn more credits to unlock content?

• What if tournamnts can be set up to compare kids' game results from these piggy banks? Will all these encourage more savings?

As I mentioned in my post on Product 2.0:

a truly 2.0 product has to reflect, enhance and even transform the social experiences of users (either cooperative or competitive). It is to understand that such Experiences are the driving forces behind massive adoption, not merely being able to connect to the Web.

This idea clearly falls into that category. If anybody wants to build something like this, drop me a note!

Related:
Idea generation #38: Tim O'Reily on 'be good' and other 'be good' ideas
Startup Idea #73: Product 2.0

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Posted in: finance 2.0,startup business ideas